Category: Science

There are some very dangerous animals in our world.

First of all, we must distinguish the adjective “venomous” from the adjective “poisonous“, since, believe me, people get them confused a lot more than expected. You can describe an item, food, animal as “poisonous” when it can poison you if you bite it or eat it. On the other hand, “venomous” can describe an animal that can poison you if it bites you.

That being said, when we think of venomous animals, the first thing that comes to our minds are snakes. There are tons of snake species and they all have different fangs, scales and lenght. Some of them are innocuous and some of them are really dangerous. Luckily for you, the ones you should avoid at all cost live in remoted areas (unless you live in those areas…).

Even snakes experts need to handle these ones with care. So here’s a quick list of 4 of the most dangerous snakes in the world:

1. Saw Scaled Viper: this snake is a viper and lives mostly in India, China and South East Asia. It’s very fast and its bite can cause heart failures and septicaemia.
2. Black Mamba: this snake lives in many areas of Africa and is the fastest land snake in the world. Just 0.25 mg/kg of its venom can kill a human in 50% of cases.
3. Eastern Brown Snake: this snake mostly lives in Australia and attacks only if it feels threatened. It mostly stands still, but if it feels the need to defend itself it can chase and repeatedly attack its victim. Its venom is very powerful and even a youngling can easily kill a human with a bite. However, they hardly use venom in their bites.
4. Fierce Snake: Also called the Inland Taipan, this snake has such a strong venom that even 110 mg of it can kill up to 100 humans. A single bite of the fierce snake can kill a human in 45 minutes.

If you don’t like snakes, well, just hope you never come face to face with one of these guys!

Dancers of the sea, both gracious and dangerous.

Jellyfishes are known all over the world and they inhabit different seas with thousands of species and variations. These wonderful animals are also called “jellies” and are charaterised by their soft body composed of trailing tentacles and a gelatinous umbrella-shaped bell. 

They move with a notorious free-swimming pace, following the flow. This specific way of moving, thanks to the various lenght of their tentacles, makes them look like they’re slowly dancing with the flow. Most jellyfishes live in the sea, but some of them can also be found in fresh-water. What’s so special about these creatures is that they represent the oldest multi-organ animal! They first appeared 500 or 700 millions years ago and they still roam the oceans.

The beauty of danger.

As beautiful as they may be, some jellyfishes can do more than just cause you a skin irritation if you touch them. There are, in fact, some dangerous ones that can even kill a human being with a single touch. One of the most perilous is the box jellyfish from Australia. This jelly can have tentacles that grow up to three metres and if they come in contact with human skin they can cause a pain so strong that it leads in most cases to heart failure or drowning.

If you want to see some beautiful examples of jellyfishes, you better watch them online or make a trip to the nearest aquarium, since a face-to-face encounter might result in some unpleasant situations!

IF DOGS ARE MAN’S BEST FRIENDS, SO ARE CATS!

Yes, you read that right. Cats are as benevolent towards man and just as loving as dogs. Recent scientific studies have in fact poven that cats are not the malevolent and selfish creatures they have always been considered by cat-haters all these years. They are and act obviously in a very different way than dogs when they come in touch with humans, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they cannot show true affection.

The basic difference between dogs and humans can be narrowed to one simple point: they don’t see us the same way. Whereas dogs perceive us as superiors, or different, cats do not look up to us for guidance. This of course shouldn’t make us think that they consider us as inferiors, it’s quite the opposite!

HOW DO CATS SHOW LOVE?

For example, cats behave towards man the same way they do towards other feline friends: they groom us, brush their tails on our legs, cuddle with or follow us. Scientists and vets clearly state that cats don’t show this kind of behaviour with animals they consider inferior to them.

There are even more prooves that cats show love to humans. A cat can display affection to its human “host” by looking at him and slowly closing its eyes, or sleeping with him at night. Showing their belly is also an obvious sign of trust, since it makes them vulnerable! They can adapt to the surroundings and be as indipendent as they need to be, but that doesn’t stop them from loving humans, just as much as dogs.

If your dreams are always strange and confusing, uncontrollable or scary, read carefully, because there might be a way to control them!

We’re talking about lucid dreaming, one of the most controversial science studies of the last centrury.

 

If we had to give an easy definition of lucid dreaming, we could describe it as the experience or instance in which a dreamer is actually aware of dreaming and can, in some cases and with obvious limitations, control the dream as he wishes.

Lucid dreaming is becoming more and more popular nowadays but only few people know enough about this experience. This “deep awareness of self” was first named and studied by the dutch writer and psychiatrist Frederik van Eeden and the subject is still being analyzed by the Stanford lucidity reasearch office lead by Stephen Laberge.

Lucid dreaming, as well as all other dreaming activity, can take place only during the REM phase, but it is actually very hard to induce and control it.

The web is full of techniques and sites about this matter, but the main question still remains: is it fair to “control” your subconsious even during sleep?

Lucid dreaming sure seems interesting and worth trying, but nothing’s better than a good old full night of “boring” sleep!

From what emerges from a study published by the American Psychological Association relating to the debate on police behavior towards the Afro-american community in the USA, to a parity stature, a man with a black skin is perceived as more threatening and dangerous person than one with a white skin.
The research consisted in showing more than 1,000 Americans photographs of some individuals with the same size but with different skin color, the participants were also asked to estimate the height, weight and physical appearance; the answers reveal a strong prejudice, and even racism, in fact the majority of participants rated peoplewith black skin strongest  and muscular than those with white skin, and consequently more dangerous, justifying, the use of the force by the police on them, even if unarmed. Even the African-Americans who participated to the tests, evaluated the black people as more strongmen, but are  not necessarily more dangerous.